In the past months I've been working on a new lay-out, which will be based on the reallife Brennerbahn.

The Brenner Railway is a major line connecting the Austrian and Italian railways from Innsbruck and Verona passing over the Brenner Pass and descending down to Bolzano and to Verona. The line is part of the Line 1 of Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T).

In my opinion this line is as fascinating as the Gotthardline, while the rolling stock on this line gives much more variation. Also my addiction for ÖBB and FS trains contributes to my choise

A brigde [haven't decided yet which one - difficult to get good pictures) Picture's and idea's are welcome here!!

Lay-outThe lay-out will get an extended L-shape and based in a 3.60 by 3.60 room. Since I might switch houses in the future, the layout will be modular. Furthermore I want to keep the plan simple and as realistic as posible given the circumstances and my skill. This means large radius curves and switches (> 900mm) on the visible parts. Given the rather small room dimensions this means I can only build a small fraction of the line. This however does not trouble me. I want to focus on realism and detail.

Rolling stockI'm going to sin on this aspect. I can't concentrate on a very narrow time span, since there are and have been such wonderfull trains on this line in the time span from the 1950's to the 1990's that I will probably be running a mixed group of trains from all over the era III to V.

Thank you for your generous response here! It encouraged me to put a lot of effort in the lay-out last week (the bad weather helped a bit too )

I have been working on the frame and the spirals. I will concentrate on the frame in this update however. The spiral will be next weeks challange.

The frame will have to support 3 layers of modules (being 2 levels with hidden yards and the main level), so it needs to be sturdy. Also it has to be flexible, which means here that, when needed, it will have to be easily broken apart and build up again.

With these two limitations on mind, I decided to use L shaped metal profiles, which you can buy in every building materals marked. They are cheap and easy to work with. In order to gain some extra strenght I decided, not only to bolt these profiles together, but also to use special glue. I'm very pleased with the result. Not only does it fits to my demands, but also it was extremely fun making it. Also during the proces, some minor adjustments in height proved possible, due to the very flexible concept.

The modules for the hidden yard are made from wood. Metal would be to noisy here. I used plywood (12mm) in combination with a supporting frame made of 27*27mm wooden beams. To protect it, I decided to add two layers of paint. This took some time, but provides a very smooth surface, and thus creating an ideal situation for laying the tracks later on. On top of that will be a 4 mm thick layer of cork, which will reduce noise.

In order to minimize the posibility of modules moving apart, I decided to fix the modules to the frame and eachother with bolts. Results are very nice, with very small differences in heigth between the modules.

It really is worth considering this technique. Especially since it is really easy to make adjustmens to the initial design once you see things worf out differently than you imagined at first. Just unbolt the profiles, make the adjustments and youre done. With wood this would give a lot more problems.

I've made an extra frame yesterday and will start my work on the spiral this evening. I'm really looking forward to it, since it will be a very important feature in my new lay-out.

Also I bought a hot glue gun, which I'm planning to use to fasten the cork rail bed.

wearing the Pink Pinny, which is hard to see and now have a new shiny tin Hip that is badly in Need of Repair Junior member of the Banana Club, a reformist and an old Goat with a Bad memory, loafing around

The spiral will have to take the train from the top level tot the lowest hidden yard, situated 54 cm lower. In order to keep the gradient below 3,5%, I've chosen to use a large radius (2241 K-track outer circle and -64.6 mm inner circle) in combination with a height gain of 9.0 cm per round.

This may sound complicated, but there is a very usefull programm for this which can be downloaded on this site: http://www.stayathome.ch/gleiswendel.htm. I followed the method descibed on this site by Rainer. It proved very easy and above all effective. Many thanks Ranier for your very detailed description.

Both the frame and the sections where completed earlier. Today I put them both together. Took me all day, but the results are very good. Its very sturdy. I left my heavy drilling machine on it, without problems. If you look closely, you'll notice a slight torsion in the treads.

I used two layers of 4mm plywood, glued the sections, painted them and bolted the together on a M8 steal tread. The frame was made out of 12 mm plywood on a 44mm woodenframe, which was also painted. I will add cork on the sections later on.

Thats it for now, enjoy the pictures, and don't hesitate to give your thoughts on improvement!

Nice work, isn't it. Ray is free to test his space shuttle here when ever he likes, as long as it is in exact 1/87 scale

It will be quite a challange to fit in the track, however.

I'm also thinking about the best way to handle the pantographs. There is no room to fit in the regular catenary or the Viessmann catenary for tunnels. There is only 8.5 cm of clearance. Since the surface is absolutely flat and smooth I'm thinking to use no guidance at all, except for the entrance sections, and use the roof as guidance for the pantographs.

Since all my E-loco's are packed in however its not so easy to test that. Do you think that will work? What is the average height of a E-loco with streched panto's?

Well for the exit/entrance this works fine. Problem is there will not be enough room for the panto to be be fully streched since there is only 8 cm clearance, which means it cant be limited to just a exit/entrance section. But tis system gives me some inspiration. It can be easily extracted to the complete helix by taking a messing or copper strip and glue it to the roof of the helix.

I've been working on helix II last weekend. Its not done yet. I'll be painting it this week and hopefully puting it together next weekend if things work out as planned (and useually they don't) .

Wat was done?

The frame work has been completed. Again its made out of plywood and a sturdy ladder framework. Glued together this makes a very strong base. The sections are made out of two layers of 4mm plywood. again glued together.

Results are shown below.

The dimensions of this helix are 145 cm * 102 cm, 3 round, innercircle K track 2231 and outer + 64.6 mm. This makes it a litle bit smaller than helix I, but to keep the gradient in proportions, I've extended the circle with 27 cm straight sections, making it an oval.

Things are really getting shape and form now. Im looking forward to the next fase: putting together the hidden stations!

The 2nd helix was completed yesterday! This completes the framework stage. Maybe I'll reward myself with a nice new loco later

I've also started to lay the track on helix no.1. I've got to lay the track and possition it very accurately in order to the get right location for the cork trackbed. The margins are very tight, only 5 mm, so I think this will consume a lot of time.

I've been strugling with the flex rail this weekend and it has been quite a fight. Tree pairs of hands would have been helpfull. With one pair it was really a challange to a) keep the flexrail in position, B) join the flexrail together, C) keep the powersupply connected to the flexrail, D) fit a railshoe tot the flexrail which has been cut, E) prevent the rail from crawling back after it has been connected, F) make sure the powersupply suplies both connected flexrail.

Somehow I managed to do 9 flexrail (3 windings of my helix), which took me all weekend.

Its was one of these moments that I regret I haven't chosen DC instead of AC.

Some learning points:- solder the powersupply shoe to one of the flexrail before trying to connect the two flexrail together. This will prevent it from getting disconnected in the proces. It will save time and frustration.- solder a wire tot the smal frame which has to be connected to the flexrail which has been shortend. You'll be able to get some power to this frame as well by this, minimizing the risk the powershoe does not transfer the power from one flexrail to the other.- widen the railshoe to be connected to the shortend felxrail a little bit before you put it in place. It wont fit easy otherwhise.- make sure you'll have your tools within reach each time. You do not have time to search for them while strugling with the flexrail.- fasten the joints of the two seperate flexrail with "krause klammern" it will prevent the rail of both frexrail to disconnect while bending it into the right curve.

I'm now waiting for the next Lokshop shipment or flexrail to arrive. I've to do another 15 of them :-(

Joined: 22/01/2009(UTC)Posts: 11,097Location: On 1965 Märklin Boulevard just around from Roco Square

Rinus wrote:

Update!

I've been strugling with the flex rail this weekend and it has been quite a fight. Tree pairs of hands would have been helpfull. With one pair it was really a challange to a) keep the flexrail in position, B) join the flexrail together, C) keep the powersupply connected to the flexrail, D) fit a railshoe tot the flexrail which has been cut, E) prevent the rail from crawling back after it has been connected, F) make sure the powersupply suplies both connected flexrail.

Somehow I managed to do 9 flexrail (3 windings of my helix), which took me all weekend.

Its was one of these moments that I regret I haven't chosen DC instead of AC.

Some learning points:- solder the powersupply shoe to one of the flexrail before trying to connect the two flexrail together. This will prevent it from getting disconnected in the proces. It will save time and frustration.- solder a wire tot the smal frame which has to be connected to the flexrail which has been shortend. You'll be able to get some power to this frame as well by this, minimizing the risk the powershoe does not transfer the power from one flexrail to the other.- widen the railshoe to be connected to the shortend felxrail a little bit before you put it in place. It wont fit easy otherwhise.- make sure you'll have your tools within reach each time. You do not have time to search for them while strugling with the flexrail.- fasten the joints of the two seperate flexrail with "krause klammern" it will prevent the rail of both frexrail to disconnect while bending it into the right curve.

I'm now waiting for the next Lokshop shipment or flexrail to arrive. I've to do another 15 of them :-(

Rinus

Rinus,there are clamps you can buy, don't ask me where, I've got 3 of them, 1 at the end, 1 at the front and one in the midddle.It clamps both rails together with a hexonal screw, nuch easier to wirk with.Ask lokshop for these clamps, they should know how to to obtain them.

Thank you Kimbal! I''m really trying to make it as neat as possible. My experience with my previous lay-outs is that many small imperfections result in one very unreliable lay-out. Therefore I'm giving much attention to allignment, robustness, testing and the quality of the components. Also I've promissed myself not to start a new fase unless the previous step is completed and tested completely. So far its seems to work out fine.

Couldn't resist to do a little testing of the helix yesterday. The results where very good. Even with one point of power supply, the train was able to do the complete part of the helix which I worked on this weekend flawless. Imagine when there is a point of powersupply every 90 cm!

Allthough both helix aren't ready yet, I want to show the progress being made.

What has been done in the month july:1. a cork railbed has been laid down (helix 1 and 2)2. track has been laid, positioned, tested and fixed (helix 1 and 2)3. power supply to helix 1 has been made4. cork bedding for hidden station# 2 has been made5. I've been experimenting with multiple plans for the hidden station

Not bad considering the WK tournament and some back problems keeping me from working on my lay-out!

Some pictures going from one end of the lay out (helix 1) to the other end (helix 2)!

Helix 1 with my test train. Helix one will take the trains from hidden yard 1 to the main level in 6 turns.

Helix 1 power suply has been soldered for improved reliability, but does needs to be organised.

Going from helix 1 to the corner of the lay-out where the famous 'St Jodok bend' will be made on the upper level which is not yet visible

Part between the St Jodok bend and the future station of Matrei

Hidden station 2 with cork and and some switches on top of which station Matrei will be build in segments

Corner were the station Matrei leads to helix # 2. Helix 2 will take the train to hidden yard 2 in 3 turns.

Feel free to comment! I could use some tips how to allign all track in the hidden station, which are modulles like the rest. The tracks will thus be cut. I'm wondering that if I do this how I keep them alligned.

I've been working very hard on the wiring of both helix 1 & 2. No spectacular photo's, but I'll show them anyway.

Both helix are powered though a 0,75 mm2 thick ring wire. I'm especially proud on my solution to prevent a spagetti effect. See the pictures for this.

With the helix powered and tested I'm gradually working my way to the lowest hidden yard. The connection of the helix module to the frame proved difficult. Hight differences m9ght cause derailments in the future. I dealt with this by making an adjustable (in height) transition. This too took some time but the effect is great. I took my most sensitive train and tested it. All went well. I'm now busy with laying cork (sound absorption) and track. I'm using a laser in order to place the track as straight as possible.

In between im thinking about the plan of my hidden yard. There is an option of 11 tracks or a smaller one with 8 tracks. The fits is more expensive, but provides more room for trains. The smaller variant can only house 8 trains but since the hidden yard is build on segments it will probably be easier to build. You see'Im a bit worried if I'll be able to minimise the tolerances between the segments that much that it will cause no problems for the 11 or 8 tracks above to fit with minimal differences in height.

Hi Rinus, looks great and there was so much work on that framework, wow! I don't think that you have made an error in AC over DC. I had DC before Marklin AC and would never ever go back! Cheers, Peter

Thanks Peter!

I'm quite sure about that. There is so much more choice in DC (track, rolling stock) at often better prices. Problem is, I've got quite a lot of rolling stock and track, all AC. It would be much too expensive to change.

Hi Rinus, looks great and there was so much work on that framework, wow! I don't think that you have made an error in AC over DC. I had DC before Marklin AC and would never ever go back! Cheers, Peter

Thanks Peter!

I'm quite sure about that. There is so much more choice in DC (track, rolling stock) at often better prices. Problem is, I've got quite a lot of rolling stock and track, all AC. It would be much too expensive to change.

Regards,

Rinus

Not too much problems in running DC Rolling Stock, may have to regauge the wheels or a drastic thing to do is change wheel setc. but usually niot necessaty.

wearing the Pink Pinny, which is hard to see and now have a new shiny tin Hip that is badly in Need of Repair Junior member of the Banana Club, a reformist and an old Goat with a Bad memory, loafing around

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